| Burlington named Healthiest City in the U.S. |
[17 Nov 2008|06:30pm] |
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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/makkintosshu/~3/456278600/burlington-named-healthiest-city-in-the-us
— Burlington is younger, with an average age of 37[…]
— Burlington is better off financially, with 8 percent living at the federal poverty level[…]
— It’s much more educated, with nearly 40 percent of area residents having at least a college bachelor’s degree[…]
The cultures are significantly different, too. Bicycling, hiking, skiing and other exercises are common in Burlington. Neighborhood groups commonly focus on improving parks, working in community gardens and repairing and improving sidewalks.
It’s great that the city I see every day looked upon so highly in this area. It’s unlike other cities I’ve lived near or visited frequently and I love it. It really is such a positive area to live in.
[Via Jackson Latka]
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| Understanding the WPA Crack |
[07 Nov 2008|07:12pm] |
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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/makkintosshu/~3/445805522/understanding-the-wpa-crack
[I]t’s a method of decrypting and arbitrarily and successfully re-encrypting and re-injecting short packets on networks that have devices using TKIP. That’s a very critical distinction; this is a serious attack, and the first real flaw in TKIP that’s been found and exploited. But it’s still a subset of a true key crack.
Tews pointed out that “if you used security features just for preventing other people from using your bandwidth, you are perfectly safe,” which is the case for most home users. Someone can’t use this attack to break into a home or corporate network, nor decipher all the data that passes.
While this first crack of WPA allows attackers to, “slip a knife into a crack in the encryption scheme and send bogus data,” that crack will widen over time. Good to know that WPA2’s AES encryption is not susceptible.
[Via Daring Fireball]
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| "Change Has Come to America" |
[05 Nov 2008|01:55pm] |
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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/makkintosshu/~3/443254204/change-has-come-to-america Joseph Ellis on November 4th’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook:
“If we do end up electing Barack Obama, the founding [of the United States of America] continues to grow.”
I’m ecstatic about, and greatly relieved by, the results of yesterday’s historic election. Not only was Barack Obama the first presidential candidate I was genuinely excited about since first being able to vote in the year 2000 election, but I now feel pride in my fellow Americans for their overwhelming participation in bringing the change we needed. The past two elections had left a bitter taste in my mouth and drained me of most of the hope that our nation could make intelligent decisions about our leaders.
Last night I slept more soundly than I have in a very long time and today I’ve awoken to a new day. Our nation can now continue to evolve as our founders intended and no longer has to wallow as it has for the past eight years.
I’m extremely proud to now call him President-elect Barack Obama and will be even more so when we’re referring to him as Mr. President.
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| Pesticides Linked to Massive Honeybee Deaths |
[07 Oct 2008|05:17pm] |
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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/makkintosshu/~3/413989074/pesticides-linked-to-massive-honeybee-deaths Living in a state that prides itself on its pastoral beauty, the state of our honeybees is second only to that of our Maple trees (although they shouldn’t be). It turns out that pesticides are likely the cause of the massive decline in honeybee populations during this past decade.
Around the world, honeybee stocks are in decline, which scientists have warned could have devastating impacts on global food supplies. A total of 80 percent of world food crops are primarily or exclusively pollinated by honeybees[…]
I’m not sure whether local apiarists have been finding dead bees, but I have heard discussion of CCD:
While in many cases bees have actually been found dead […] beekeepers have been particularly alarmed by CCD, in which the bees simply vanish, leaving empty hives behind them.
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A number of studies have found that in low doses, neonicotinoids produce symptoms consistent with CCD. Termites exposed to imidacloprid experienced disorientation and immune system failure, while bees exposed to low levels of the chemical experienced impaired communication, homing and foraging ability, flight activity, and olfactory discrimination and learning.
Can we just get off of pesticides already? Time to go read Silent Spring.
[Via Jason Fried]
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